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Mark Sedway

Mark helps clients make an impact through strategic planning, collaborative inquiry, group facilitation, influence strategy, and tool and visual design. His past clients have included the United Philanthropy Forum, Blue Shield of California Foundation, Headwaters Health Foundation for Western Montana, Philanthropy California, Meyer Memorial Trust, the Center for the Health Professions, Mission Investors Exchange, Collective Impact Forum, and a range of Philanthropy-Serving Organizations, including the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, Funders Together to End Homelessness, Grantmakers Concerned about Immigrants and Refugees, Northern California Grantmakers, San Diego Grantmakers, and Southern California Grantmakers. Mark’s passion is to help leaders in the social sector develop and spread good ideas and champion the causes they care about.

Mark has been a consultant to foundations, nonprofits, and philanthropy associations for the last dozen years. Prior experiences include directing the Philanthropy Awareness Initiative; serving as The James Irvine Foundation’s first director of communications; working for a public affairs agency; directing projects for the civil liberties group People For the American Way; stints with government agencies in education, the environment, and community development; and a failed attempt to go English-free for six months as a way to learn Spanish while living in Sevilla in the early 90s.

He has a bachelor’s degree in government and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University, resides in Chicago, and will talk about his son, Dash, for as long as you will let him.

Mark Sedway's blog posts

Everything is in process. But our ways of thinking about organizational development often don’t account for that. Our tools can be static, designed to look at single slices of time, where things are right now rather than where they’ve been and where they’re headed. To help our clients think in terms of ongoing change, The Giving Practice developed the “Talking About Evolutions” exercise. How is your organization, team, project, strategy or field evolving—from what to what? Our prediction: The process of thinking about evolutions will galvanize your group. We have seen it happen again and again. more »

When we say “strategic,” what’s the next word that comes to mind? If it’s “planning,” you're like many of our clients. And for many foundation staff and board members, dread is the feeling that follows. It doesn’t have to be that way, however. In consulting with foundations around the Northwest and across the country, we have worked with leaders who are seeing strategy in a new way — as an ongoing practice rather than a discrete planning chore and an opportunity to mobilize continuous curiosity, experiment and learn, and even have some fun. Our new guide contains 10 activities that can help you get there, too. more »